New Belgium Brewery is expanding its operation with a new 16,000-square-foot can line addition to its bottling hall in Fort Collins. V. RICHARD HARO/THE COLORADOAN FILE PHOTO

Written by

David Young
DavidYoung@coloradoan.com

New Belgium Brewing Co. is expanding its operation in Fort Collins with a new 16,000-square-foot can line addition to its bottling hall.

The new system will increase New Belgium's canning volume capacity six-fold, enabling the brewery to fill 360 cans per minute. Currently, 5 percent of the brewery's sales are cans. With the new system the company hopes to double that to 10 percent in the next two years, said New Belgium spokesman Bryan Simpson.

"Cans have been a great addition to the packaging portfolio for us," Simpson said. "We first introduced Fat Tire cans in 2008, and we've since added ...